I received my notice yesterday that if I wanted to continue to use my Citi Mastercard, my rate would be moved from 5.99% to 29% on any purchases after November 1st unless I “opted out”. No skin off my nose. I don’t use the darned thing.

I called the 800 number and spoke to the friendly foreigner and within 3 minutes it was closed.

My card co, about 3 months ago,sent a notice that my rate was raised through the roof - at the same time, I was notified that “due to my stellar account” my limit was raised substantially =

I think they are raising rates through the roof on good accounts to beat the new bill limiting such rate raises = so, thanks a lot, government - all you did was hang us out to dry.

I called this week to see about lowering the rate, pointing out that they may have noticed I haven't been using the card since the hike - but they wouldn't budge. They cited the economy as to unstable - yada yada. This is unusual. Card outfits were always amenable to lowering rates with good customers = I have always paid well above minimum payment and always well before due date.

28
posted on 10/20/2009 7:32:12 PM PDT
by maine-iac7
("He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" LINCOLN)

Near the end of the article it says Citi had $8 BILLION in consumer credit losses in Q3 including both mortgages and credit cards. And they say that will continue to track the unemployment rate upward (duh!).

We should expect Frank, Dodd, Rangel, Pelosi, Reid, et al to come out soon with a proposed law that will stop them from closing credit cards.

Last month I purchased a firearm with my Amex card. Now the $600 or so is not in my normal spending pattern. I have no limit, and the balance due was something like $400.

I got a call from Amex stating that I was nearing an amount that would require that they suspend my spending. I told them that was OK, because I wasnt going to use it any more. The one time event was going to be paid as soon as I got the bill.

They wanted me to pay the current $400 AND the $600 that would appear next month.

I told them to screw. The $400 would be paid by the due date, and the other would be paid when I got the bill next week.

Happened to me a couple of months ago. They closed an account I hadn’t used in years. Honestly, I was keeping it open merely as a backup, in case my primary card was lost/stolen. Oh well, I can do that without Citi, good riddance guys.

The debt is no recourse, they’ll have to sue you in Civil court to get any money back, a proposition that most likely will end up costing them more than you owe. Don’t bother filing for bankruptcy either, it just gives the banks (through the courts) access to your paycheck.

Your debt will be sold over and over for pennies on the dollar, till eventually, it will be worthless to any collection agency, and it will simply sit on your credit report.

The Federal government (YOU) has already covered your outstanding balance anyway, so why pay for it twice?

As to your credit score, as you’ve probably already read here and other places, your score is going to be affected no matter what you do. Even those that stay current will have their scored lowered due to actions of the banks.

Oh..and for those that feel that walking away is wrong morally. Total up the amount of purchases on your cards over the years, then the payments, then look at your outstanding balances, chances are you’ve already paid for that which you purchased.

When you signed the card agreement, did you agree to pay 30% interest on previous interest? When they sent you that 0% card, would you have accepted it if you knew that they were going to skyrocket your rate regardless of your payment history? At any moment?

Let them have it, live on cash and just walk away.

44
posted on 10/20/2009 9:50:38 PM PDT
by tonyinv
(I Want Obama To Fail ..there I said it...now say it with me.)

I received my notice yesterday that if I wanted to continue to use my Citi Mastercard, my rate would be moved from 5.99% to 29% on any purchases after November 1st unless I opted out. No skin off my nose. I dont use the darned thing.

I got the same notice. I have perfect credit, so I'm outta there too. What's up with this?

That happened to me in December 2007. I had charged $16,000 worth of computers at the Apple store (outfitting a new office). A couple of weeks later, there was a message on my answering machine to call an AXP 800 number. Turned out they'd noticed a change in my spending (normally about $800 to $1500  gas, groceries, the occasional airline trip). I told them, whatever, no problem, I'd take care of it. The company expense check having already been deposited, I double-checked my BofA bill-pay to make sure the AXP payment was properly scheduled. And that was that.

This past week, I got yet another mailing from them asking me to sign up for extended payment terms on purchases over $100 (or was it $200?), in exchange for 5000 frequent traveler points. I finally did it, having tossed previous offers in the trash (only offered 1250 points, cheap bastards!). Why my signing up for something I will never use is worth 5000 points to them (about $50 in air travel) is beyond me.

My card co, about 3 months ago,sent a notice that my rate was raised through the roof - at the same time, I was notified that due to my stellar account my limit was raised substantially

There's the dirty little secret we were discussing months ago when they "attacked credit card companies" on behalf of THE PEOPLE, was a farce. We all knew that the folks with poor credit would be cut off and the folks with good credit would initially get rate hikes and/or annual fees to make up for the loss in revenue and non-payment on the closed accounts.

47
posted on 10/21/2009 3:46:46 AM PDT
by John.Galt2012
(I'll take Liberty and you can keep the "Change"!)

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